A Jacksonville favorite has reopened to shoppers excited for its return — and its new, oversized home.

New River Pottery, formerly of Jacksonville’s New River Shopping Center, moved to Wilmington in 2009. The 42,000-square-foot New River Pottery recently opened in Jacksonville on Onslow Drive — in the former Rose Brothers Furniture store. Rose Brothers Furniture has moved to Bell Fork Road.

“The Jacksonville people supported the Wilmington store, and they supported the New Bern store, so we didn’t lose our customer base. It’s just a little closer to home now,” said Marsha Luckenbaugh, store manager, noting that many Jacksonville residents had been asking the company’s owner to bring a store back to the area for years.

She said in the last week, they have greeted shoppers from Wilmington, New Bern, Greenville and Raleigh who traveled to see the new store.

Luckenbaugh said she and her staff of 17 employees set up the store in about six weeks, in time for the grand opening Sept. 6.

“We had a phenomenal opening; it was very strong all weekend,” she said, estimating that they had more than a thousand customers come in on the first day alone. “And we’ve had a very strong beginning of the week. We’re hopeful that it’s going to continue.”

Luckenbaugh, who’s been with New River Pottery for more than a decade, said they take the most pride in their Christmas departments, which features 17 themed Christmas displays, with names such as “Harlequin Holiday” and “North Pole University.” Luckenbaugh said they also specialize in coastal décor, which includes miniature sail boats and glass buoys, to seashell-themed lamps.

Luckenbaugh said one of the store’s strengths is that is has something to offer to everyone: pet lover’s décor, traditional picture frames, sports décor, a large wedding section and various fall-themed items. They also offer a section entirely devoted to silk flowers, with do-it-yourself options as well as professional designers who can custom-make wreaths, cemetery, holiday and wedding pieces and more.

“We are very price conscious,” Luckenbaugh said, noting the weekly promotionals the store offers in the newspaper, which also includes money-saving coupons.

Becky Nye and Katie Gray, newcomers to Jacksonville, said they had never seen displays like the ones in New River Pottery. Nye said they were easily their favorite feature of the store because they inspired the duo on how to use the merchandise for their own projects.

“They give me ideas and I can run with it,” she said as she and Gray added supplies to their basket to make leopard and peacock-inspired wreaths.

Gray said the prices were also better than she expected.

“It’s definitely worth a trip out here,” she said.

Ray and Cynthia Howell of Swansboro say they are longtime fans of New River Pottery. Cynthia Howell said she was disappointed when New River Pottery closed its doors in Jacksonville in 2009, but she said the new location is “better than ever.”

Page 2 of 2 - The Howells said the new store is larger, provides more options in terms of merchandise and is a newer and cleaner building.

On Tuesday they were in the store looking for that “something special” to add to their Christmas menagerie, and they were considering enlisting the services of one of the store’s designers to do some custom floral work.

“Especially for the different seasonal things, it has a lot of interesting, different, and just fun things,” Ray Howell said, adding that the prices were reasonable for the quality of the products. He also said at the end of the seasons, the store offers “killer sales.”

Since the grand opening, Cynthia Howell already has come and gone, and bought four sacks’ worth of merchandise. And that number was about to rise.

“I’m not leaving empty-handed today,” she said.

New River Pottery in Jacksonville is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.